How would Jesus vote?

 

        As a follower of the Christ Way, a.k.a. Christian, I am compelled to ask myself this question every election season. Of course, I am also compelled to lift the life and words of Jesus from the pages of the Gospels and apply them to my own time in 2020, which is a dangerous yet necessary task.

        We have to remember that Jesus didn’t vote. Voting occurs in democracies, and first-century Palestine was not a democracy. It was a theocratical monarchy ruled by a Gentile empire headed by a man who proclaimed to be the son of that empire’s god. We also need to remember that Jesus was not a very politically involved man by way of actively resisting that empire. That’s not to say he didn’t resist it in his own way, especially when he proclaimed himself to be the Son of God. But his level of activism wasn’t understood by most of his fellow Jews, or even by some of his own followers (I’m talking about you, Judas Iscariot). Yet as a follower of the Way Jesus showed us, here in 2020, I have to ask myself, How would Jesus vote?

        Jesus was often critical of the power systems of his time, especially the religious authorities. In fact, he didn’t often criticize the king or the emperor, but rather the systems in which they existed. They were systems that pushed people to the margins, that oppressed the poor and the weak, that constructed and sustained divisions separating the “clean” from the “unclean.” Jesus was criticized for socializing with prostitutes, tax collectors, and other unclean members of society. He used a Samaritan, one of the most despised ethnic groups in his time, as the hero of one of his most famous parables. Those parables often painted the rich and powerful as the villains. He healed lepers by touch, an act of lunacy in a time when leprosy was the most dreaded disease one could contract. He was kind to widows and orphans, who were considered nothing in their society without a husband or father. He fed the masses without asking for anything in return, and without judgment. He adapted his message to his audience, speaking intellectually with the educated and colloquially with those who had little or no learning. He urged his followers to build up their spiritual capital, and to use their material gain to help others. He wasn’t afraid to show his temper to those who had turned the temple into a business. Women were valued members of his community, receiving more status and recognition than they were accustomed to in their time.

        I don’t believe Jesus would have been a single-issue voter. He was strongly rebuked for associating with prostitutes. In Jesus’ time, women who had no husband or family were often cast out onto the streets. To survive, they begged and prostituted themselves. Abortion was most certainly practiced in the ancient world, so it’s safe to assume that a prostitute who found herself to be pregnant would seek an abortion, as giving birth to a child in those circumstances would have been cruel to the child. Yet the Bible never, ever mentions the act, and Jesus says nothing about it. Marriage was quite different in Jesus’ time, too. Women had no property rights, so it didn’t matter whether a couple was legally married or not. In our day, marriage affirms a couple’s rights to each other’s property in case one of them dies; it protects the surviving partner from the greed of the deceased spouse’s surviving relatives. And to claim that same-sex relationships didn’t exist in Jesus’ time is like claiming the wine they drank then wasn’t alcoholic. Rubbish! Wine is wine, and love is love. So I highly doubt Jesus would have voted to ban abortion or same-sex marriage.

        If Jesus were a voter in 2020, I firmly believe that he would vote for candidates and policies that support the way of being in the world that he taught and modeled: care for the poor and the oppressed; healing for the sick; the fair distribution of wealth gained from the labors of the masses; affirming the rights of women, LGBTQ folk, black and brown people, First Nations, and other margin dwellers; and welcoming all who seek sanctuary. He would support restorative justice. He would vote in favor of educational reforms that expand access and opportunity because he knows God wants everyone to become all that they can be, for God’s glory and the benefit of all creation. He would vote for a living minimum wage. He would support and reward philanthropy because he knows “to whom much is given, much is expected.”

        I believe Jesus would heed the data gathered and interpreted by medical and climate scientists as true and valid. I think he would support credible journalists’ efforts to report the truth factually and objectively. I believe he would call out corruption and deceit. I think his heart would be tender toward those who feel afraid and hard toward those who would cause harm. And I know that he would not view his nation as the greatest on earth because, in his heavenly Father’s eyes, there are no nations, only people who are all her beloved children. (Yes, I did that. Deal with it, patriarchy).

        Political parties are dust in the wind. The Democrats of today are the Republicans of 150 years ago, and vice versa. Parties have come and gone. Democratic Socialist, Libertarian, Green—they don’t mean anything other than power structures to raise money and promote agendas. What was Jesus’ agenda? Love. Pure and simple. Love for God, love for others. Easy to say, but the hardest thing ever in the world to practice. Why? Because we each and every one of us are selfish pricks. We’re after our own good because we’ve forgotten that we are all connected, that we all are created to live in community. “It is not good for the man to be alone” was not a marriage mandate, but a statement about humanity’s need to live in community. We. Need. Each. Other. That’s the way God intends it because that’s what allows God to be among us. Where there are division and dissension and that insidious “us vs them” mentality, God cannot abide. Our very survival as a species depends on us recognizing that fact and working to create a society across the globe—and maybe even someday across the stars—that embodies that interconnection and interdependence.

        So who would Jesus vote for in 2020? I’m not going to speculate. But I’m pretty sure who and what he wouldn’t vote for. And his votes certainly wouldn’t be motivated by greed or fear. This election season, I will try to think like the One whose Way I follow, and I will cast my votes accordingly. How you vote reflects how you think and feel. I urge you to vote for Light and Love, not greed, fear, and darkness.

        So, whose way are you following when you cast your votes?

CELEBRATING PRIDE

June is Pride month, celebrating LGBTQ+ heritage, identity, and love. While much partying and positivity happens, it is also a time to pause and reflect on who we are and where we’ve come from.

Note: I use the terms queer, gay, homosexual, and LGBTQ interchangeably to refer to any person who is not heterosexual or cisgendered.

Time to read: 6:09

I am an out and proud gay man.

            It took me most of my life (and I’m fifty-seven) to be comfortable enough to say that in public. It still feels awkward. Not because I’m not proud of who I am, but because I’m still unsure of how people might react. As adults, we’re not supposed to care about what other people think about us, but we do, especially when the opinions come from people we care about, have to interact with regularly, or who have power over us. Or when we fear for our safety and security.

            There were places and times in world history where same-sex love was accepted as a simple variation of the human experience. While marriage between two people of the same sex may not have been common or even allowed, same-sex relationships still existed openly. I reckon people who did not fit the heterosexual, cisgendered expectations of their times were more or less left alone in those cultures.

Then along came the Jews, followed by the Christians, and then the Muslims, who brought a violent attitude toward any sort of love that wasn’t between a man and a woman (or women; Judaism and Islam both practiced polygamy, and many Muslims still do). Not the religions as a whole, mind you, but the patriarchal power-mongers who wielded religious laws like weapons to subjugate women, children, the poor, slaves, and homosexuals and transgendered people. The latter two, in particular, were seen as worthy of nothing but death. And woe to the homosexual or transgendered person who did not benefit from the privilege of color or socio-economic status.

            The U.S. especially has a complicated history with how it treats queer people. I don’t know if anyone has ever received the death penalty for simply being queer, but plenty of queer people have been murdered simply for who they are. The struggle for gay rights has long existed, but one of the first organized approaches began in December 1924, when Henry Gerber founded the Society for Human Rights in Chicago. Sadly the Society soon disbanded “…due to political pressure.” (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/stonewall-milestones-american-gay-rights-movement/).

            More than twenty-five years later, Harry Hays founded the Mattachine Society in Los Angeles to change public perceptions of homosexuality, especially to “…cultivate the notion of an ethical homosexual culture.” (ibid).

            The 1950s were fraught with anti-homosexual policies and practices. Almost 5,000 gay men and women were discharged from the military or fired from their government jobs for being gay. The American Psychiatric Association classified homosexuality as a mental disorder. Homosexuals were banned from federal government employment by executive order.

            But not everything from the 1950s was bad for queer people. A paper written by psychologist Evelyn Hooker convinced many clinicians to change their views toward homosexuality. And the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the First Amendment rights of a queer-centric publication, One: The Homosexual Magazine.

            Queer people began to feel more emboldened to express their identities in the 1960s counter-culture movement. But it was the Stonewall Riots in June of 1969, when angry gay youth and drag queens protested police brutality and harassment toward queer people, that brought the gay rights movement to national attention. And that’s why we celebrate Pride every June.

            A lot has happened since then. Queer people advanced in civic leadership positions, states passed anti-discrimination legislation, mainline churches began to welcome queer people, the U.S. military abolished their “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, and finally, in 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to prohibit marriage rights to same-sex couples.

            We’ve come a long way in gay rights and inclusion, but we still have a long way to go. There are many communities in the U.S. where gay people are harassed, stigmatized, and ostracized. Many businesses and schools discriminate against queer people. LGBTQ people are victims of hate crimes. Trans women of color are murdered at horrifying rates. Families still kick their queer children to the curb. Many faith communities still refuse to include queer people in the full life of their congregations. And the list goes on.

            We might compare the struggles of the LGBTQ community to those of BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) communities. While there are certainly similarities that help LGBTQ and BIPOC people empathize with each other, the struggles of LGBTQ folk are unique. I doubt any black people have been kicked out of their families simply for being black. I don’t think any brown people have been excommunicated from their faith communities for simply being brown. Have any people of Asian descent been discharged from the military or fired from their jobs for simply being Asian?

            And how many black religious leaders have called for the death penalty for homosexuality? How many brown priests have put gay people in the same category as those who sexually abuse children and animals? How many Asian and Latino families have rejected their LGBTQ children? How many minority business owners have denied employment to a well-qualified candidate just because he or she was queer? How many BIPOC people have used an anti-gay slur or told a mean-spirited joke about gay or trans people? What about anti-gay rap lyrics?

            And to be fair, the LGBTQ community’s treatment of our BIPOC brothers and sisters hasn’t been stellar. We have discriminated based on color, gender expression, and sex; we have fetishized black men, Latinos, and Asian men. I can only speak from the gay man’s experience, but I assume the lesbian community has had its share of discriminatory practices, as well.

            But now is not the time for oppressed people to oppress each other. Now is the time for all people—gay and straight; white and BIPOC; Christian and otherwise; able-bodied and differently abled; men and women and nonbinary folk; everyone—to come together and stand with and for each other. The horror of police brutality against black people must end. The imprisonment of brown people seeking life and safety must end. Allowing poor homeless people to suffer a long, lingering death on our streets must end. White supremacism must end. Toxic masculinity must end. Ethnocentrism and xenophobia must end. The hoarding of wealth acquired by the labor of the poor must end.

Rights for one is rights for all. Justice for one is justice for all. Empowerment for one is empowerment for all. United we stand; divided, we all fall.

            So this June, let’s all take pride in who we are: our beautiful, polychromatic colors; our many gender expressions; our infinite varieties of abilities and talents; the different ways we all make efforts to connect to the loving Divine; the many sizes we represent; and the people we love, and our efforts to love them to the best of our abilities. Pride is a celebration, and while we still have struggles and battles ahead, let’s honor who we are and what we’ve accomplished.